ED seizes ₹600 cr property documents from ex-BJP man in Goa land grabbing case
Rohan Harmalkar, who contested the 2022 Goa Assembly election as an independent after being denied a BJP ticket, joined the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party last year
Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) have seized incriminating property documents worth ₹600 crore on Friday from the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary Rohan Harmalkar in connection with the 2022 fraudulent land deals case in Goa .
The state government had formed a commission in June 2022 to probe land grabbing cases involving fraudulent methods such as impersonation, forging documents, and tampering with revenue records, following which the crime branch’s special investigation team had registered 111 cases of land grabbing involving 93 parcels of land measuring 1.5 lakh square metres across Goa.
Harmalkar, who contested the 2022 Goa Assembly election as an independent after being denied a BJP ticket, joined the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)—a BJP alliance partner—last year.
A statement issued by the ED said Harmalkar is “a key mastermind” who, along with associates, unlawfully sold properties originally owned by individuals and family estates without their consent, using “impersonation,creation of fake documents, tampering with revenue records, etc.”
The statement also said that the searches, which were conducted based on intelligence and subsequent financial investigation uncovered “incriminating property documents, the current market value of which exceeds ₹1,000 crore, including forged title deeds, indicating manipulation of land records and fraudulent transfers of high-value land parcels spanning several lakhs of square metres in prime tourist hotspots like Anjuna, Arpora, and Assagao in Bardez subdistrict of the state.”
“Additionally, original documents of immovable properties worth more than ₹600 crore were seized during the search action. It was further unearthed during the search that the Proceeds of Crime generated were further laundered through various individuals and benami entities and finally invested into real estate, luxury vehicles and other high-value assets,” the statement added.
The ED has also filed a prosecution complaint against Estevan D’Souza, another accused in the land grab scam who also had contested Goa Legislative Assembly elections but lost. D’Souza too was probed by the Goa Police SIT in connection with several cases.
D’Souza along with Mohammed Suhail, both arrested, used to identify unattended properties where the actual owner of the property had either deceased without any legal heir or the legal heir is living outside India. Then they would executed sale deed/irrevocable power of attorney by using forged documents, through impersonator(s) of legitimate owners, specially those who are dead or live outside the country, and transfer prime properties in coastal villages in Goa to their own names or names of their associates which were then sold on to unsuspecting buyers for a high price.
“Previously, ED has provisionally attached immovable properties vide Provisional Attachment Order dated 08.11.2023 wherein 8 immovable properties located in Bardez in Goa amounting to ₹11.82 Crore were attached. Subsequently, the said PAO (Provisional Attachment Order) was confirmed by Ld. Adjudicating Authority, PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering), New Delhi vide order dated 08.04.2024. Further investigations are under progress,” the statement read.
